The Capon Aghassi, Chief of the White Eunuchs of the Sultan

On the back of this canvas someone added a reference, Ferriol no. 5, G. Scotin sc. It points to a book. Charles de Ferriol, the French ambassador in Istanbul, had Vanmour paint the peoples and ranks of the city in 1707 and 1708, and the pictures were engraved in Paris, some of them by Gérard Scotin. Number five in that book is the plate this canvas was matched to.

The Turkish title is kapı ağası, agha of the gate. He commanded the white eunuchs and kept the Gate of Felicity, the entrance to the innermost courts of Topkapı Palace, where the sultan lived and where the pages of the palace school were trained under his eye. For a long time he outranked every other servant of the household, until in the late 16th century the chief of the black eunuchs overtook him.

Here he stands full length with his left arm stretched out, and the yellow number eight in the corner gives his place in the Dutch set.